The Cincinnati Bengals are playing with fire.
They still don’t have a contract extension agreed to with star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson, and the news doesn’t sound great.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that Hendrickson is still just fine holding out into the regular season if a deal doesn’t get done.
Hendrickson is absolutely crucial to Cincinnati’s chances of success. He deserves at least $30 million per year, and possibly more. He’s currently due to play this season at $16 million, which seems out of the question for him at this point.
The likes of Nick Bosa and Maxx Crosby have gotten upward of $35 million a year. Hendrickson might deserve that, but he also may settle for a bit less if the Bengals actually try and meet him halfway.
Fowler also reports that the Bengals remain dug in on the guaranteed money. They don’t like giving any guaranteed salary after the first year of a contract.
They did that for Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, though, and now Hendrickson wants some multi-year guarantees in his deal.
The Bengals have committed so much money to their offense, including that duo and Tee Higgins, that it’s a bit hard to fit in Hendrickson.
But without him, they run the risk of failing their offense by giving up too many points, just as they did in 2024.
Hendrickson has 17.5 sacks each of the past two seasons. He’s a genuine superstar.
And he appears prepared to spend time on the sideline if he doesn’t get the contract he deserves. It’s up to the Bengals to fix that.
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